Emblematic place of Saint-Jean Pied de Port, this building called the Bishops' Prison comes from a local scholar who, at the beginning of the last century, brought the presence of Bishops of the diocese of Bayonne during the Great Western Schism at Saint-Jean Pied de Port in the Middle Ages closer to its role as a prison in the 18th century.
Situated in the rue de la citadelle, the original function of this building is still uncertain: commercial warehouse, fortified house?
Despite historical and archaeological research, a veil of shadow still envelops this building with its evocative name.
Listed as a historical monument in 1941, the Bishops' Prison has now become a museum. The entrance opens onto a guard house followed by disciplinary cells. A narrow staircase leads to a vast medieval vaulted room.
A permanent exhibition evokes the paths to Compostela in the Middle Ages and temporary exhibitions are regularly proposed.
Bishops' Prison
41, rue de la Citadelle,
64220 Saint-Jean Pied de Port
Phone : 05 59 37 00 92
patrimoine@saintjeanpieddeport.fr
http://www.st-jean-pied-de-port.fr
Click on the image
Click on the image
Click on the image
Click on the image
Click on the image
Click on the image
Click on the image
